Improvement in joints for oil-well tools



H. S. SOUTHARD, H. G. GROWELL 8L J. K. HALLOGK. Joint for Oil-Well Tools.

No. 210,720. Patented Dec. 10,1878.

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RPETFRS, PMQTO-LWMOGRAPHEB. WASHINGTON. D G.

UNITED S'IA'llilS PATENT HENRY S. SOUTHARD, OF NORTH EAST, AND HILEN G. GROWELL AND JOHN K. HALLOCK, OF ERIE, ASSIGNORS OF ONE-HALF THEIR RIGHT TO GEORGE E. SOUTHARD, OF NORTH EAST, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN JOINTS FOR OIL-WELL TOOLS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patcnt No. 210,720, dated December 10, 1878; application liled May 29, 1878.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that we, HENRY S. SOUTHARD, of North East, and HILEN G. OROW'ELL and Jivo. K. HALLOGK, of Erie, in the county of Erie and State ot'lennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Joint or Coupler for Tools Used in Drilling Oilells; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

Our invention relates to the construction of the joints or couplings for rods and tools used in drilling oil or other deep-bored wells; and it consists in changing or modifying the construction of what is commonly called the pinand-box joint.

Our invention will fully appear in the subjoined description.

Our device is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, as follows:

Figure 1 is an elevation view of one of our joints with parts broken away, so as to show the construction. Fig. 2 is a transverse section on line a: m, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is aview similar to Fig. 1, showing the upper coupler and rope-socket with our invention incorporated.

A A are the rods, stems, orbits which are to be coupled. B is the box or socket, and it is shown as provided with a female screw similar to the ordinary box. The box is also provided with a tapered sleeve-like extension, B, which is provided with an external screwthread, and it is also provided with kerfs or slots 0 c, of which there may be as many as desirable. O is a jam-nut or ring, which screws upon the taper sleeve B, and compresses its segmental sections together. The top of the bit or rod A is provided with a shank, D, and a pin or male screw, D, which are so fashioned as to leave a shoulder, 01. The shankD is of less diameter near the collar (it than at the shoulder cl, thus giving it a dovetail form. This taper is very slight, not being, probably, more than one-thirty-second of an inchi. 6., the shank is about one'sixteenth of an inch less in diameter in the small part.

The manner of connecting the joint is as follows: The pin D is screwed into the female screw of the box B until the shoulder at is well screwing while in the well.

break off.

set, so there will be no danger of giving. The jam-nut C is then screwed up until the segmental sections of the sleeve 13 are firmly and rigidly set against the shank D.

The objects of this construction are as follows: With the present form of pin-and-box or screw socketthat is, the common or ordinary pin and boxthe operators are compelled to screw the joint together with all the force they can put upon it (often using compound leverage) in order to prevent the joint un- This strains the iron at the base of the pin, and they often The taper sleeve and jam-nut in our device not as a nut-lock. When they are well set the pin D cannot unscrew; consequently the necessity of wrenching the pin so tight is avoided. By giving the shank a dovetail form the joint will not come apart if the pin should break. The sleeve B also acts as a stay or brace to the joint, adding greatly to its stiffness, which of itself is sufficient to insure against the breaking of the pin. The jam-nut may be screwed up as tight as any power can do it, and yet the tension does not come when it will cause a break by the jarring of the tools in the operation of drilling.

There are several modifications that may be made in our joint, as follows: The pin D may be dispensed with, or the pin D may be the same size as the shank D, and thus do away with the shoulder (Z, in which case the thread in the box should be so cut as to allow the male screw to abut the pin against the top of the socket, so as to takethe jar oft of the screwthreads. The shank D may be without a taper when the screw-pin is used. The box y be made double, if desired, and this will be ecessary in the rope-socket, as shown in Fig. 3.

Th \ijorm we have shown in Fig. 1 we anticipate will be the most acceptable, as it possesses, perhaps, more elements of strength.

The essential feature of our device is the tapered screw-threaded slotted sleeve-like extension of the box B and the jam-nut G.

We are well aware that taper sleeves and jam-nuts are old in themselves. They are used in shaft and pulley fasteners and many other places. Brad-awls have been fastened to the handles and bits in bit-stocks by the use of segmental grapplers converged by the action of ajam-nut; but we are not aware that the box of a pin-and-socket joint has been extended and tapered, and slotted and externally screw-threaded, and provided with a j amnut, for the purposes set forth.

In Fig. 2 the slots 6 are shown as V-shaped. This is done so that strips of wood or rubber may be laid in them to keep out water and sand from the screw-thread of the nut G.

What we claim' as new is- 1. In a deep-Well tool joint or coupler, the box 13, made with a tapered and slotted extension, B, substantially as and for the pur' poses set forth.

2. In a deep-well tool joint or coupler, the tapered shank D on the part A, in combination with the clamping-extension B of the box B on the part A, substantially as and for v W. S. RIBLET, J AS. S. MILLER. 

